Is it Hanukkah or Chanukah?

GOLDA gang, it’s time for our holiday hotline.

But first, last night I took my daughter Edith to the Color Factory for a Hanukkah party hosted by Emanuel Downtown. Letting loose in this bright environment was the perfect salve for a dark day, and seeing kids laughing and playing was a reminder of what this is all about: finding joy and inspiration in our Jewish identity. 

Afterwards, as we got off the subway on the Upper West Side with our friends, I saw four young Chabad guys on the corner giving out menorahs. They were playing a catchy remix of One Day by Matisyahu, and I grabbed Edith’s hand and we danced over to them. 

Thank you for being out here, I said, unexpectedly moved to see them.

They barely registered what I was saying. They simply replied, do you need a menorah? 

I grabbed one and thanked them profusely. It was the eighth menorah we lit when we got home. 

This brings us to our holiday hotline, with reader questions on how to light a menorah, what to call it, and how to spell the whole thing. Here we go!

What direction do the candles go in?

I have to Google this every year, so I’m happy to save us all some keystrokes. Each night the candles are placed in the menorah from right to left. But you light the newest candle first each night, which means you’re lighting left to right.

This next question comes in from our friends at Tchotchke:

What’s GOLDA’s take on the terminology: menorah vs. Hanukkiah? Is calling a Hanukkiah a “menorah” totally fine, or should we all be pivoting to the technically correct term? Everyone colloquially says “menorah,” and it’s more universally understood especially outside the Jewish world, but I’m curious where you land — and how you navigate it.

I asked GOLDA pal Rabbi Diana Fersko to give us an official verdict. Here’s what she had to say:

This is an answer by an American for Americans. The answer in Israel is different. But here in the diaspora, yes, the actual term for the lamp we light on Chanukah is, unsurprisingly, called a chanukiyah. A chanukiyah has 8 branches (plus the shamash) whereas a menorah, which is also the Hebrew word for lamp, has seven branches. 

Remember the square/rectangle rule from high school? Every square is a rectangle, not every rectangle is a square. Similarly, every chanukiyah is a (type of) menorah, but not every menorah is a chanukiyah. So if you say "menorah," like I do, Day School children will gleefully correct you, but that's part of the fun. Menorah is the commonplace term in the diaspora and a symbol of the Temple in Jerusalem—no need for a rebrand.

-Rabbi Diana Fersko

I’ve turned to Diana a lot this past year to help GOLDA readers navigate challenging moments. It’s a good week to revisit her two previous appearances: Jewish Wisdom for Dark Times and How to Bless Your Children on Shabbat. 

You’ll notice all sorts of spellings above—Hanukkah (mine), and Chanukah/Chanukiyah (Diana’s)—which brings us to our next question, courtesy of my cousin Elisabeth:

“Can you tell me which spelling of Hanukkah is correct???” 

There’s no one better to tell the story behind the holiday’s many spellings than Jenna Weissman Joselit, a brilliant historian of American Jewish culture. Her next book, Mordecai M. Kaplan: Restless Soul, will be published in March 2026.

Here’s Jenna:

The Festival of Lights might not hold a candle to the visual delights of Christmas but it has the Christian holiday beat when it comes to the variety of ways by which its name is spelled: Hanukkah, Hanukah, Chanukah, Chanuka.

Make no mistake: this ain’t no gaffe nor the whim of a copywriter. These variant spellings go to the very heart of the modern Jewish experience, embracing cultural literacy on the one hand and the imperatives of belonging on the other.

Whether the age-old holiday was rendered with a “Ch” or a “H” reflected attempts to get its name right. According to the American Israelite, which monitored such things back in the day, American Jews of the 19th century had grown increasingly distant from the use of Hebrew and consequently had trouble pronouncing the holiday’s “funny name,” mangling it in the process.

Transliteration to the rescue. Its linguistic protocols sought to protect the sounds of Hebrew, ensuring that on the page it resembled the spoken language. To 19th century ears, “Chanukah” came closest to capturing its authenticity.

Fast forward to the mid-20th century, when consumerism—and with it, the debut of the Festival of Lights in the marketplace and the civic square—had even more to do with the way its name was rendered. By then, the Jewish holiday was no longer a private, internal affair. The stuff of advertisements, greeting cards, and freestanding, oversized menorahs, it presented itself to the outside world. Growing self-consciousness, then, called for a rendition of the holiday’s name that looked less exotic, less out of step with America: leaner and cleaner. For many, that would be “Hanukah.”

-Jenna Weissman Joselit

The answer to my cousin Elisabeth’s query is therefore the most Jewish answer of all: all of them are correct. In my experience though, synagogues and other Jewish institutions are more likely to use Chanukah, while media outlets and more secular sources go with Hanukkah. 

I’m grateful to Diana Fersko and Jenna Weissman Joselit for giving us context and clarity on this second night of… Hanukkah.

For more ritual guidance and inspiration, I loved Rachel Rosenbluth’s Chanukah Guide (spelling hers!).

Keep on lighting those lights,

Stephanie